The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1887-11-18
TALMAGES SERMON.
An Interesting Discourse Evolved
From concord and Discord."
The Laying or the Worlds corner-stono
and the Grand Peace Jublise--stn the
Harsh Discord in the orohestrA
Of the Universe.

The subject Of a recent sermon delivered
by Rev. Il. Dewitt Talmage at the Brook
Iyn Tabernacle was concord and Dis
cord. !" predicnted on the following text:
who laid the cornerstone thereof, when the
morning stars sang together.-JOb xviii, 81
Dr.. Talmage said: We have oil seen
the ceremony at the laying Of the corner
stone Of church, asylum or Masonic tenn
pie. Into the hollow Of the stone were
placed scrolls Of history and important
documents, to be suggestive H. one or two
hundred years after, the building should
be destroyed by fire or torn down. We
remember the silver trowel or iron ham
mer that smote the square piece Of granite
into sanctity. We remember some vener-
able man who presided, welding the
trowel or hammer. We remember also
the music as the choir stood on the scat
tered stones and timber OF the building
about 10 be constructed. The leaves Of
the notebooks huttered in the wind, and
were turned over with great rustling,
and we remember how the bass, barry tone,
tenor, contralto and soprano voices COM
mingled. They had for many days been
rehearsing the special programme that it
might be worthy Of the cornerstone lay
ing.
In my text the poet Of w calls us to
grander ceremony-the laying of the
foundation Of this great temple Of world.
The cornerstone was a block Of light and
the trowel was Of celestial crystal. All
about and on the embankmeuts OF cloud
stood the angelic choristers, unrolling
their librett0s Of overture, and other
worlds clapped shining cymbals while
the ceremony went ON, and God, the
architect, by stroke of light after stroke Of
light, dedicated this great cathedral Of a
world, with mountains for pillars, and
the sky Tor a frescoed ceiling, and flower
ing heldI for floor, and sunrise and mid
night aurora for upholstery.
Who laid the cornerstone thereof, when the
morning stars sang together.
The fact Is that the whole universe
was q complete cadence, an unbroken
dithyramb, a musical portfolio. The greaC
sheet Of immensity had been spread out,
and written on it were the stars, the
smaller OF them mlnims, the larger Of
them sustained notes. The meteors
marked the staccato passages, the whole
heavens a gRmut, with all sounds, into
nations and modulations, the space be-
tween the worlds a musical interval,
trembling Of stellar light, quaver, the
thunder a bass clef, the wind among the
frees treble cleft This is the way God
made all things a perfect harmony.
But one day harp-string snapped In
the great orchestra. One day a voice
sounded ont OF tune. One day a dis
cord, harsh and terrific, grated upon the
glorious antiphOne. 10 was sin that made
the dissonance, and that harsh discord
has been sounding through the centuries.
All the work Of Christians, and philan-
thropists, and reformers of all ages is to
stop that discord, and get all things back
into the perfect harmony which was
heard at the laying Of the cornerstone,
when tho morning stars sang together.
Before ] get through, IL ] am divinely
helped, will make IL plain that sin Is
discord and righteousness is harmony.
That things in general are out of tune Is
as plain as to a musicians ear is the un-
happy clash Of clarionet and bassoon in
an orchestral rendering.
The worlds health out OF tune. Weak
lung and the atmosphere in collision, dis
ordered eye and monday light in quar-
rel, rheumatic limb and damp weather in
n struggle, neuralgias, and pneumonias,
and consumptions, aud epilepsies in
hocks swoop upon neighborhoods and
cities. Where you find one person with
sound throat, and keen eyesight, and
alert ear, and easy respiration, and regu-
lar pulsation, and supple limb, and prime
digestion, and steady nerves, You find n
hundred who have to be very careful be-
cause this, or that, or the other physical
function Is disordered.
The human intellect out OF tune: The
Judgment wrongly swerved, OF the
memory leaky, or the will weak, or the
temper infiammable, and the well-bal-
nnced mind exceptional Domestic life
out Of tune: Only here and there n con-
jugal outbreak OF incompatiblity of
temper through the divorce courts, or a
Alial outbreak about fathers win
through the surrogate's court, or a case of
wife-beating or husband poison ing
through the criminal courts, but thousands
Of families with June outside and January
within.
Society out OF tune; Labor and capital,
3hoir hands on each Others throat. Spirit
Of caste keeping those down in the social
scale in "A struggle 20 get up, and putting
those who arc mp in anxiety lest they have
20 come down. No wonder the old plan o.
forte Of society Is all out Of tune, when
hypocrisy, and lying, and subtorfuge, and
double dealing, and sycophancy, and
charlatanism and revenge have for six
thousand years been banging away at the
keys and stamping the pedals.
On all sides there ~ a perpetual ship
wreck Of harmouies. Nations In discord:
without realizing it, 50 wrong is the feel
ing of nation FOR nation that the sy mbol s
chosen are fierce and destructive. In
this country, whore our skies are full
of robins, and doves, and morn
ing larks, we have our national symbol,
fierce and filthy eagle, as immoral bird
ns can bo found in all the ornithological
catalogues. In Great Britain where they
have lambs and fallow deer, their symbol
Ia the mercilcss lion. In Russia, where,
from between her frozen north and bloom
ing south, all kindly boasts dwell, the y
choose the growing bear, and in the
worlds heraldry favorite figure is the
dragon, which Il winged serpent,
forocious aud deathfuL
And so fond is the world of contention
that we climb out through the heavens
and baptlzo one Of the other planets wi Ia
the spirit OF battle aud call "a Mars after
the god OF war, and we give % the eighth
sign of tho zodiac the name OF the
scorpion, a creature which is chiefly cole
hratod for It's deadly sting. but, after all,
these symbols are expressive Of tho way
nation feels toward nation. Disoord wide
80 the continent and bridging tho seas.
suppose you have noticed how warmly i'm
love dry goods stores are with other dry
goods stores, and how highly grocery
men think Of the sugars OF
the grocerymen on the same block.
And in what "a eulogistic way alopathic
and homeopathic doctors speak of
each other, and how ministers will some
times put ministers ON their beautiful
cooking instrument which the English
and turned by a crank before a hos Gre,
and then II the minister being roasted
cries out against 10, the men who are turn
Jug him say, ''Hush, brotherl we are turn
ting this pit for the glory Of God and the
good of your soul, and you must be quiet
while we close the service with;
Blcst Be che tie that binds
Our hearts ia Christian love.
The earth il diRmeterod and circum-
foronced with discord, and the music that
was rendered 90 the laying Of the worlds
corner stone, when the morning stars
sang together, ~ not heard nows and
though here and there. from thla and that
- eamfmfar mA from Hhfa al -